Trap
by NCISSara
Summary: VERY DARK STORY Ziva is captured and tortured. The team starts to get DVDs of her torture mailed to them. They are doing everything they can to save her. She is doing everything she can to stay alive long enough for them to find her. Rated M for a reason!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

**I watched NCIS reruns completely out of order. When I wrote this story, I knew that Ziva had been taken hostage and had been hurt, but I had no idea who had taken her or why. This is my version of what **_**could**_** have happened. **

**I now know (like you guys) that it was Saleem. I never published this story because I was sure that people wouldn't like it. However, I came across it the other day on my computer and decided to publish it instead of deleting it.**

**Please let me know what you think and forgive me for being wrong...**

**Also, please forgive me for hurting Ziva this way. I do love her really!**

A bruised and bloodied Ziva is lying on her side on the floor of a dirty, mostly empty room. A man enters the room and her eyes open briefly at the sound of the door opening, but her back is to the door and she does not bother to turn over. The man crosses the room and rolls her over onto her back by placing his heel against her right shoulder and forcing it to the ground. She moans softly when she is moved, and looks up at the man standing over her and says quietly "Shalom, Father".

"My Ziva" he whispers as he crouches by her side. His face is a mask of concern, his voice breaking with sorrow. "Why do you insist on it being this way?" He reaches out and strokes the side of her face and she recoils as if he had hit her. This infuriates him. The concern and sorrow fall away instantly as he gets up and walks back to the door. He pauses and looks at her. "I have never struck you Ziva. I never will. You do not need to fear me." She pulls herself to a sitting position and though this effort causes her a great deal of pain, she is still able to keep her voice steady. "No father. _Your_ hands never struck me. You used others' hands for that."

She remembers _her_ hands pointing a gun at Ari, her brother. It was _her_ hands that her father used to strike Ari.

He had sent her as Mossad "liaison" to NCIS in order to gather sensitive information on the US Navy bases scattered around the Middle East. Her excellent training and family background earned her a spot on Special Agent Gibbs' team. Her father had ordered Ari to kill Gibbs and later ordered her to kill Ari. She wound up in Gibbs' basement one night with Ari pointing a gun at Gibbs. She chose, in a split second, to take him down. Her father had been pleased that she obeyed his orders. He knew that if she would do that, she would do anything he asked of her.

He was wrong. She had killed Ari not because her father ordered it, but because he was threatening the life of an innocent man; a good man; a man who trusted her to "have his six" because he had hers. She had reacted instinctively, and she knew it was the right decision, but she could never forgive her father for putting her into that situation.

She now knew that her father had orchestrated the entire thing. He had known that even if Ari succeeded, he would most likely be killed or captured and Ziva would lose her position at NCIS. Though her actions resulted in Gibbs' remaining alive, she was able to remain at NCIS. Ari's death was an acceptable loss for her father because he knew that Ari was beginning to get out of control and Ziva was still in position to take down Gibbs whenever he ordered her to do so.

That order had come two months ago and she had refused. She had resigned her position as a Mossad agent and applied for American citizenship so that she could join NCIS permanently. Her father, enraged at her betrayal, had sent Michael to bring her to her senses and, if necessary, force her to return to Israel.

But he had been killed by an NCIS agent, Anthony Dinozzo, who had been suspicious of Ziva. As far as her father was concerned, his death was not a total loss. She had finally returned to Israel; to attend Michael's funeral. Once she left her American friends' protection, she was almost immediately captured and brought to this "terrorist camp" in the middle of the desert.

"Father, did you think I would not figure it out?" she questioned him. "These people were able to kidnap _me_, daughter of the director of Mossad, while I was _in Israel_." She shook her head in disbelief and sadness, but continued. "They have asked no questions about Mossad, only about NCIS and US Naval bases. Only the information _you_ wanted to know."

He asked coldly. "Do you want the truth, Ziva?"

She sighed. "I don't want anything from you anymore." It was the truth.

This time when he spoke, there was no hint of emotion in his voice. "Ziva, I did not care if you figured it out or not. You are no longer my agent, you are no longer under my protection, and you are no longer my daughter. You have information I need and I will get it from you by whatever means necessary." He walked to the door and turned to look at her one last time. "_You_ of all people should know that I have ways of getting what I want without getting my own hands dirty."

He turned to the two men standing guard on either side of the door. "Do whatever you need to do to get the information. After that, kill her." She heard him say it and watched him leave. Two tears trailed gently down her cheeks.

The two guards looked at each other and without a word, walked over to where she still sat on the floor. She recognized the look she saw in their eyes. _They were going to hurt her_ _and they were going to enjoy it._

She realized that up until this point, her father _had_ been protecting her. He had hoped that after a few weeks of captivity and torture, she would beg to return to her exalted position as his daughter and special agent. He had spent a lot of time and money training her and did not want to throw it all away so easily. He had only wanted to remind her that it was he who gave the orders and she was to follow them; not question them. Her reaction to his touch let him know that all of that was over. She would never return to his side. So he was able to give the orders to torture and kill his one remaining child without a hint of remorse. She was already dead to him.

Besides, he did not actually need the information she had gathered. He only wanted her to _think_ that he needed it. His real plan was to use her as bait to draw out Gibbs and his team. He held them responsible for killing Ari and Michael and for turning his daughter against him. He knew that if Ziva found out the truth, she would find a way to thwart him. She may take her own life or somehow warn her friends at NCIS. He had to keep it a secret for the time being. Only he and Asir knew the real reason she was being held.

When he left, the guard on the right, Asir, grabbed her hair and pulled her to her feet. Even now that she was standing, she still had to look up at him and he laughed and said mockingly "I hope you realize that we have been holding back on you, _little one."_ He was an excellent agent, very experienced in undercover work, and he planned on playing his role as interrogator very well.

She felt suddenly sick to her stomach. Asir had used her father's special nickname for her when she was just a child. She hadn't heard it in years. This man should not know it at all.

He continued. "But now that we don't have to worry about that, we can really have some fun." Asir shoved her through the door, into a room that she hadn't seen before, and threw her onto a table. "Tie her down, Isaac. Then go and tell the others that they can come in one at a time." He turned to look at her and winked as he said "I get her first, though." She struggled against Isaac, realizing what was coming, but in her weakened state, he was easily able to get her wrists and ankles cuffed to the legs of the table. Asir approached her and said over his shoulder "I got it from here. You can come back when I'm done." Isaac left and Asir took a knife and slowly cut her shirt open.

"You know that this will not work. I won't tell you anything." Ziva hissed.

"I am not asking any questions." He said as he continued to cut her clothes off. She could not control a shudder of disgust as he ran his hands down her now naked body. "Oh, don't be frightened, _little_ _one_. I am not going to hurt you too badly. We're just going to have a little fun." He walked across the room toward a video camera that was mounted on a tripod facing the table. "I hope your friends at NCIS will enjoy this little show."

She cursed herself for dragging her friends into this situation. It would kill Gibbs to have to watch her being raped and tortured for information about NCIS. McGee and Abby would never get over it, and Tony. Tony would torture himself watching it over and over again, hoping that he would be able to pick up some clue as to her location. If he could, she knew that he would come to rescue her. He would be killed, and it would be her fault.

"No. No." she said quickly. "They do not care about me anymore. You do not have to waste your time." She said trying to hide the fear in her heart.

Asir turned around. "You know, I don't quite believe that. I can think of at least one 'very special agent' who would really enjoy this little _film_." He left the camera off and came back to the table.

His intimate knowledge of Tony's little quirks surprised her. It must have shown on her face because he climbed on top of her, leaned over her face, looked directly into her eyes and said "I probably know more about them than you do. _I_ did the research. _I_ was the one who was supposed to take that mission." As he spoke, he became more and more upset.

Now he was practically screaming. He sat up, straddling her with his fists clenched, literally shaking with rage. "I was passed over. _My_ mission was given to 'daddy's little girl' instead." His voice softened a little and Ziva began to relax. "I was upset and spoke out. The Director found out and my career with Mossad was essentially OVER." As he spoke the last word, his rage broke through again and he started punching her in the face, over, and over, and over again.

She tried to turn away from the blows, but she was cuffed to the table. There was nowhere to go. She felt her nose break, then her left cheekbone. The world started to go grey, and she welcomed it. "_If he keeps this up, I won't have to worry about being raped_."

When she awoke, her face on fire, she found that she was no longer cuffed to the table. Asir had moved her to a bed in the corner. He was kneeling by the side of the bed and practically sobbed with relief when she turned her head to look at him. _I guess he doesn't want to kill me, not yet, anyway. _Ziva thought he seemed terrified that he had killed her before he could get the information her father wanted.

He was terrified, though not for the reasons she thought. He had never lost control of his temper this badly before and it bothered him. He had almost killed her and her father needed her alive for a little longer if their plan was going to work.

What he had told Ziva was true. He had been one Eli David's most trusted agents and most people believed that he was being groomed for succession. Eli's son, Ari, was unlikely to be chosen; his loyalty was questionable at best. When Eli had taken away his mission and given it to Ziva, he had been crushed. He interpreted that to mean that Eli had chosen Ziva as his successor. He had let his temper get the better of him at that time too, and it had nearly destroyed his career.

What he had _not_ told her, respecting her father's wishes, was that they had not captured her to get information. They had captured her to use as bait. Gibbs and DiNozzo were the targets, she was the lure.

In his relief over finding that she was alive, he made a critical mistake. He said "I'm sorry, Ziva. I really shouldn't hold that against you anymore. You screwed up badly enough, by not killing Gibbs when you had the chance, that your father has finally recognized the value of my loyalty." He stood up, glanced back at the camera to make sure that it was still off and said. "I will be the one to finish what you started, and that will make your father very happy with me."

She knew then that Asir and her father were still trying to kill Gibbs. If her friends came to rescue her, they would be walking into a trap. She would find a way to warn them. Her father knew she would and it was why he hadn't wanted her to be told what was going on but Asir underestimated her.

He turned the camera on.


	2. Chapter 2

**This one is short, but chapter 3 is pretty much ready to go so it'll be up soon.**

Gibbs walked out of the elevator, coffee in hand, and sat down at his desk. A look of irritation crossed his face as he looked from one empty desk to another. Where the hell was his team? McGee and Tony had both been working long hours for the past few weeks. No one was able to relax and enjoy time off from work while Ziva was missing. They hadn't heard anything from her for three weeks and it could only mean one thing. Ziva was in trouble. Where were they now, though?

His desk phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs" he paused briefly then said "On my way." He slammed down the phone and headed upstairs to MTAC. McGee met him at the door. "Boss, uh, its not good news." The pain on his face had already told Gibbs that. "Is she alive, McGee?"

"Well, uh, we think so. Abby has the disc now and she's working to see if… if there's any clues as to when it was taped and where she is being held."

Gibbs' shot a look at Tony, and he stood up, and then sat back down again, clearly at a loss as to what he should be doing. "Have you seen it yet, boss?"

"No, DiNozzo. How could I have seen it? No one called me." He reached down to retrieve his cell phone, realized it wasn't there, and said "Damn." He walked over to Tony, put a hand on his shoulder and said gently "How bad is it, Tony?"

Tony drew in a shaky breath. "I… It's bad." He shook his head. He paused for a moment, and then looked away from Gibbs; unable to make eye contact. "They raped her. They raped her and sent the video to me. At my house… They sent it to my house, boss."

Gibbs closed his eyes for a second then started barking out orders. "Get Ducky up here. I want him to assess her injuries."

"He's on the way, boss." McGee said.

"Pull it up on the screen. Get Abby to run facial recognition on this guy. I want to know _who_ it is that I am going to have to hunt down and kill."

"Guys" Tony said quietly. Gibbs looked back at him. "It wasn't one guy. There were at least ten that I saw, and I didn't, I couldn't, watch the whole tape."

Ducky came running into the room just as the video started. They watched it in absolute silence.

Tears poured down McGee and Ducky's faces. Director Vance looked away after a few minutes and didn't look back. One of the technicians ran to the trashcan and threw up. Gibbs remained stone-faced. The only thing that gave away his feelings were the white knuckled grip he had on the railing and the tenseness in his shoulders. Tony was seemingly in shock. His breathing was too fast, too shallow. He had seen this once already and it was almost too much for him to stand. Still, as hard as it was for him to see, his eyes never left the screen.

An hour later, when the video ended, Tony turned to Gibbs, his voice breaking. "We have to help her, boss. We have to get her no matter what she said."

Vance snapped his head around to look at Tony. That statement didn't make any sense. When the tech glanced in his direction, clearly puzzled, he just shrugged his shoulders. Apparently the strain was getting to the young agent. _Ziva hadn't said anything_. Not one word. She hadn't begged the men to stop hurting her, she hadn't offered any information, and she definitely hadn't said that she didn't want help. So when Gibbs' answered Tony, everyone was puzzled.

"I know, DiNozzo. We'll get her." Gibbs saw the confusion on Vance's face and said, very impatiently, "Trap. It's a trap. Don't come." He looked around the room and saw that everyone in the room was just as confused. Exasperated, he yelled "She used sign language. Didn't _anyone_ notice?" Tony picked up his gear and left the room, Gibbs following.

The truth was everyone _had_ missed it; everyone but Tony and Gibbs. Vance looked after the two of them and shook his head in amazement. It was easy to forget how talented agent DiNozzo really was. He had absorbed knowledge and habits from his boss that he was able to put to excellent use. If anyone was going to save Ziva, he knew that it would be the two of them. They had an uncanny ability to see details and put facts together that most people lacked. They hadn't said anything about Ziva's message during the video, because they both knew the other was seeing it. They just expected that everyone else would too.

It would be easy to excuse all the other people in the room by saying that they were just too shocked at what was happening to pay attention. It would be easy to say that her hand movements were too subtle to notice. It would be easy to say that they were too emotionally involved; too close to the case to see clearly. But it would not excuse them in Gibbs' eyes. Vance knew that Gibbs would not allow McGee to make these excuses, but he also knew that McGee would not let this happen again. Gibbs was training him and he would be hard enough on McGee to ensure that he never made a slip up like that again.

Vance sat at his desk thinking all these things, and realized that there was no excuse for his own failure to catch Ziva's message. He was not a probationary officer, fresh off the street. He was the director of NCIS and he should have been looking for her to send them a message. She knew she was being taped. She had looked directly at the camera several times, probably to _let them know_ that she saw the camera, he reflected.

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	3. Chapter 3

The elevator doors open and McGee, Tony, Gibbs, and Ducky walk out, the shock of what they had just witnessed still evident on their faces.

Abby looked up from her screen, and they saw the tears pouring down her face. Gibbs walked over to her and put his arms around her. "Oh Abbs, you shouldn't have had to watch that by yourself." She turned and hugged him as tightly as she could, her entire body shaking with grief and fear for her friend. After a moment, she pulled herself together, pushed away from Gibbs and turned to the screen. She was all business now.

"Ok, so I analyzed the handwriting on the mailing address. No matches. I ran the prints though AFIS. No matches. I checked the background of the room she was in. No clues." She sighed in frustration, "but I do have some stuff for you guys."

"The video was recorded three days ago. DVDs degrade as time goes by, especially the homemade ones, so I was able to" Gibbs cut her off there. "Good girl, Abby. What else ya got for us?"

_Three days. _That was a long time. They all hoped she was still alive, that the torture and rape hadn't continued that badly for the past three days… that she could hang in there a little longer.

Abby answered "Well, I ran facial recognition on the" her composure slipped a bit and she faltered for the right word "on the men who… the men on the video. I got a match on all but two, but I think once I clean up the resolution a little, I can get those two also."

She handed Gibbs, Tony, and McGee each a folder. They opened them to find CIA dossiers on each man. "Jesus Abbs, you've been busy." "Well yeah, McGee. What did you think I was going to do, sit around on my ass and let them keep hurting her until she dies? My job is to dig up everything I can on these assholes so that you can track them down and kill them. After you rescue Ziva, that is."

"Ya did good Abbs" said Gibbs

"These guys are Mossad. They're all Mossad." Tony's voice was barely above a whisper as he looked up at the others. "Her dad ordered this?" He shoved the file into his pack and headed for the elevator.

"Where you going, DiNozzo?" asked Gibbs, sharply. Tony whirled around, his eyes blazing. "I may not know where these guys are, but I can sure as hell find out where Director David is. I am going to.."

Gibbs cut him off. "You are going to _find her_ first, DiNozzo. We don't have time to waste on her father right now. He won't help us." He turned to Abby & McGee, trusting that his senior agent would follow his orders, "What did we miss? There's got to be clues."

Tim looked at Abby. "They are likely in Israel. We just need to figure out where. Enhance the video, focus on the window." Abby pulled up the video and zoomed in on the window. They could see part of two buildings in the background. "We can calculate the dimensions and locations of those buildings relative to the one she's in, create a mock up, and start scanning satellite images for matches. But that would take…" Gibbs cut her off again.

"Get on it Abbs."

Then McGee asked "Guys, why did they send it to Tony's house? Why not NCIS? They obviously wanted us to see it."

Tony didn't hesitate. "They wanted to hurt me, McGee. They know Ziva's my partner."

"Yeah, but they could have addressed it to you _here_. They didn't. Why not?"

"It wasn't mailed. It was hand delivered." Tony slammed his fist down on the table. "If it had been mailed, I would have seen it when I got home last night."

"Ok. So, they used someone in DC to deliver the video. There may be another one coming. Set up surveillance on Tony's house. Hell. Cover mine, McGee's, Abby's, Ducky's, even Palmer's. They won't use the same drop point again." Gibbs looked at Tony silently ordering him to set it in motion. Tony immediately got into action.

Fifteen minutes later, Gibbs got a call "Yeah, Gibbs. On my way" he said as he hung up. He headed to the elevator, Tony and McGee right behind him. "We got another video. It was at McGee's this time. Ducky, I need you with me."

"Abby, Keep working. Find her."

Ziva was in agony. She curled up into a ball on the floor, as close to a ball as she could get anyway. It felt like half her ribs were broken. She guessed that they were finished with her for the day. She prayed that they were.

She had survived, but she was not sure how much more of that she could take. They had told her repeatedly that it would be easier on her if she didn't fight. She knew that, just like she knew that no matter how hard she fought, they were going to rape her anyway. But, she couldn't, wouldn't just lay there and let them take her.

Her father would be pissed. Her training taught her to remain passive during torture, conserve her energy, and wait for an opportunity to escape. _Actually_, she thought _I don't have a father anymore. _Then an image of Gibbs floated through her mind. _"Hang in there Ziva. We're coming to get you, just don't do anything stupid to get yourself killed before we get there." _That was the last thing she thought before finally succumbing to exhaustion.

They left her alone all night, but the pain kept her awake through most of it anyway. She realized that she was in serious trouble when she started to have difficulty breathing. It seemed like it just hurt too damn much to be worth the effort of taking deep enough breaths She fought the feeling, hanging on to the hope that her friends were coming to get her.

In the morning, when Asir slammed open the door, she was already awake and was able to maintain her façade of cool detachment in the face of his obvious rage. She had a chance to think "_Oh shit. He caught the message I tried to send." _before he was across the room. He was crazed with anger.

"You stupid, fucking BITCH!" he screamed at her, pulling her up to his face. He slammed her face-first against the wall. "Sign language? You had to know we would see it. We would _never_ let that get through to your agent friends."

Suddenly, the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach disappeared and she smiled against the wall. A small sound of triumph must have escaped her, because he spun her around. "They didn't get your message, so why are you so happy?"

She continued to smile, tipped her head to the side and said in her best 'Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo' voice. "Hm. Is that so? Well _I _think you would not be so _upset_ if you had not already sent it to them, now would you?"

This statement hit home, but instead of getting more upset, he became coldly calm. His voice seemed oddly mechanical as he dragged her to a chair and cuffed her to it, her hands behind her back. "We will just have to make sure that it doesn't happen again, won't we now?"

Gibbs, Tony, and Ducky were back in MTAC with the director. Before the video started, Gibbs said quietly "I want every detail you can get out of this. Pay attention. Don't look away. Cry later." He looked at each and every one of them in turn.

"For now, do not think of this as Ziva. This is a crime scene. She needs you to do what you do best. Understood?"

No one answered, but no one needed to. He could see it in their eyes. They would not miss anything this time.

Ziva was in a chair this time. There was a table in front of her. The camera was slightly off center, so that the man who was sitting directly in front of her did not block their view. The first thing they noticed was that her condition appeared to be the same as at the end of the last video.

They hadn't hurt her since then. It was also evident that it was now morning. Gibbs was relieved to see that they had her at a table. That meant that they were planning to question her and that was something that Ziva was trained to handle.

His relief evaporated as he heard what the man, who he recognized as Asir from his voice, said. "I hope your friends appreciated your little message last night. They won't get any more." He reached down beside his chair and picked up a hammer. He laid it down on the table in front of her and her eyes flicked toward it for a moment and then returned to his face. She gave no evidence of the fear that kindled inside her at the sight of the weapon.

She knew that her friends would be watching this later and wanted to make it easier for them by maintaining her composure. "Hold her left hand down on the table." Two men came out from behind the camera. One of them uncuffed her left hand and held her shoulder to the back of her chair. The other guy grabbed her wrist and forced it to the table. Asir stood up.

Ziva looked at the camera and smiled a sad little smile, which said _It was worth it. I warned my friends. _She closed her eyes and awaited the blow from the hammer. She didn't struggle.

Tony watched the hammer fall methodically on each of her fingers. He could hear the tiny, delicate bones of her hand breaking with each blow. Those were the only sounds he heard at first. Then he began to hear soft whimpers of pain coming from her. He couldn't stand it. _Not Ziva. This is not Ziva. This is a crime scene. I need to focus._ He leaned forward and looked at the window behind her. Now that the camera was at a different angle, they could see more. There was a structure visible that looked like a water tower.

This video was much shorter. When it ended, Gibbs turned to Ducky first. "What can you tell us, Ducky?"

"Well Jethro, I am concerned that several of the ribs on her left side are obviously broken; they may have caused some internal bleeding. Her respiration seemed shallow; she is evidently having difficulty drawing deep breaths, but I can't say much more for certain without examining her in person." He took a breath. "None of the injuries that she sustained today were life-threatening; in fact, they seem to have caused her more emotional pain than physical."

He turned to McGee, who looked confused. "You see, Ziva has been trained to remain silent during torture. She is quite good at it too, as evidenced by the previous video." He sighed.

"She was crying today though, and I believe that it had more to do with the emotional trauma of knowing that her hand will be crippled forever, than the physical pain of the broken bones." He turned to leave and added

"We can be thankful that they chose her left hand. She is right-handed."

Tony answered "They did it on purpose, Ducky. She used her left hand to send us the message. If the camera had been on her right side..." Tony trailed off, not wanting to say what they were all thinking. If the camera had been on her right side, they would have broken her right hand and she would never be able to shoot a gun again.

She would never be able to work as a field agent again.

Gibbs was actually a little pleased that his team was thinking in this direction; it meant that they still expected to get her out alive.

Gibbs turned to Tony, silently asking for his take on the video. "Boss, the new camera angle makes it possible to see more out of the window. There seems to be a water tower, and I can see a part of a fence. Also, we know that its morning, so we know which direction is east." He indicated the rising sun that was silhouetting the water tower.

"Get that to Abby. She can add the new information to the stuff she already has. What, McGee?"

"It might be nothing, boss." When Gibbs continued to stare at him, without saying anything, he blurted "Well, I was just wondering, well, they haven't asked her any questions. Why are they torturing her? What information are they after?" When no one answered, he continued "I mean it seems like Tony was right. They are sending us these videos just to hurt _us_."

Tony ran a hand through his hair, "She did say it was a trap, boss."

Gibbs stood. "Alright. They're after us, using her as bait. _Why_?

**Thank you for all of the alerts. I'll get the next chapter up very soon! Please, please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank You all so much for taking the time to review! In this chapter the team is shocked when they learn something about Asir...**

This time Abby met them at the elevator doors. "I know where they are! Well, not exactly, not yet, but I know where these guys _live_. They all live in, or near, Haifa. We've been able to narrow down our search area."

"You can narrow it down some more, with the information Tony's got for you from the second video." Gibbs said. Abby's face fell at the mention of the second video. "Is she, ok?"

Tim spoke first. "Ducky seems to think so, but this time they hurt her pretty badly. They found out that she sent us a message, and they" he trailed off, and looked to Tony for support. Tony took a deep breath and described what happened as if he were describing one of the many crime scenes he'd worked on. Gibbs was right; it really was easier to think that way.

"They took her left hand, laid it out on a table and smashed each bone with a hammer." Abby ran to him and they hugged each other tight. She looked up at him and the look of grief on her face brought it all back to him. When he continued, his voice shook with impotent rage and pain.

"They broke every bone in her hand, and she cried. Abby, they made Ziva _cry_."

"Oh Tony" she whispered. "We'll get her back." She stepped back to her computer and repeated her statement louder and with more assurance. "We'll get her back. And we will kill the bastards who hurt her."

Tony nodded, almost absently. He was thinking. He had _described_ it to Abby as a crime scene and it got him _thinking_ about it like crime scene. Gibbs noticed right away. "What's on your mind, DiNozzo?"

Tony looked at him and said "I was thinking that Asir knows too much about us. Some of the things he said to Ziva on the video. He shouldn't know those things unless she told him, and I don't think she's said anything."

He looked at each member of his team. "How does he know that I call myself "very special agent"? How does he know that we call McGee "Probie"? How does he know we would be watching the video in 'Abby's' lab?" He stood up and paced in frustration. "For god's sake, he called Dr. Mallard, _Ducky_. No one does that but _us_."

Abby started at this information. "Was this on the new video? I need to see it."

Tony was right. This guy knew way too much about them. He had toyed with the hammer for a while before starting to hit her with it. They knew that this was an attempt to intimidate Ziva, but he had _talked_ the entire time.

The first thing that struck them as odd was when he'd smiled at her before he started hitting her and said "I can just see them now, gathering together in Abby's lab to watch. Who do you think will cry first? Gibbs?" Ziva glared at him across the table. "No, he doesn't cry, does he? DiNozzo?" Ziva looked away. "No, he's too much like Gibbs." He leaned forward. "How about McGee?" he asked and nodded to himself "Yes, the Probie will cry for you, won't he?"

He had taken many small breaks from hitting her hand with the hammer. These breaks were intended to prolong her suffering and give her false hope that he was finished. During one of these he had said "I hope that your partner, "_Very Special Agent_ Anthony DiNozzo", is enjoying this little film as much as the first. He's quite the critic, isn't he?"

After he finished, he'd laid down the hammer and whispered in her ear, the camera mic just barely picking up the sound, "Don't worry, little one. I'm sure that Ducky will be able to reassure your friends that you haven't sustained any life-threatening injuries, so far."

At this point, Abby stopped the video and said, shamefacedly, "I've seen Asir before. He's been _here _before." She started pulling up information on her computer. "It was a long time ago, before Ziva came. He didn't go by that name, he went by… Gotcha! Here he is."

They watched the plasma screen in shock as Asir entered NCIS, passed through security, got off the elevator at their floor and walked around the empty squad room.

"He's taking PICTURES of my squad room. Why the hell didn't anyone catch this guy?" demanded Gibbs.

Abby said quietly "It gets worse, Gibbs." She paused "He had clearance to enter my lab. I talked to him. He was going to be the Mossad Liaison Officer and he needed an ID."

She turned her back to them and said "I should have…"

McGee stopped her "It's not your fault, Abs. You met this guy 4 years ago, under a different name, for what 5 minutes? There's no way you could have…"

This time Abby stopped him "It was more like 2 hours, McGee. I toured him all over the building, introduced him to Ducky, Tony, Kate, you. We even ran into Director Sheppard; everyone but Gibbs."

"What the hell was he doing here? Ziva got the liaison position, not him." Gibbs was infuriated. This asshole had come into his home, as close to home as it got for him anyway, and taken information on his team back to Mossad. Mossad was supposed to be an ally. They had never had the most trusting of relationships, but he couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on.

He headed for the elevator. "Find her. Now." He got in, and before the doors closed, he yelled "McGee, DiNozzo, we're on a plane at 18:00." The doors shut and an obviously confused McGee said "That's like, an hour from now. We don't even know where we're going yet." He hesitated and glanced questioningly at Tony. "Do we?"

Tony answered quietly, but confidently "Gibbs is going to talk to Sec Nav." His jaw eyes narrowed and Tim, seeing the look of rage that flashed across his face, took an involuntary step back from his friend as Tony continued. "That bastard's been hiding something from us." He glanced back at the others in the room and continued. "He better be glad that Gibbs isn't letting me any where near him right now.

"Ok" said Tim, soothingly and looking for a way to change the subject asked once again. "But we're getting on a plane and we don't know where we're even going."

This time, when Tony answered, his face showed only a fierce concentration. "We're going to go get Ziva."

"I'll figure out where she is by 18:00 then" Abby stated, matter-of-factly. She was happy that things were moving forward. They were going to save Ziva! She just needed to enter the new information into the program she and McGee had written and find her; fast.

**I can't wait for the confrontation between Gibbs and the Sec Nav. and I'm toying with letting Tony get a piece of him too. (They are right by the way. He does know more than he's letting on.)**

**What do you think? Please review and let me know. (Gibbs vs Sec Nav or Tony AND Gibbs vs Sec Nav.)**

**The next chapter is longer and we get to see how Ziva is doing... poor thing.  
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	5. Chapter 5

**As promised! Hope you enjoy!**

Gibbs stormed into Vance's office, bursting through the door without knocking, and walked directly to his desk. "I want the Sec Nav on the phone." Then a bit quieter but even more menacingly he growled out "Now."

He was shaking with barely contained rage but his gaze never left the Director's eyes.

"I want to know what the _hell_ he thinks he's up to."

On some level, he recognized that Vance did not seem surprised to see him, or confused about what he was talking about but it took a second for the realization hit fully and he continued.

"He's going to tell me _exactly_ what kind of games he's playing with Mossad. He knows who this asshole that's got Ziva is and he's known it this _whole time_." He paused for a second, eyes narrowing "but now I know it too and he going to answer to ME."

Vance leaned back in his chair, fingers fiddling with the ever present toothpick in his mouth and said "Gibbs, you might want to calm down before you…"

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" Gibbs thundered. "He brought this man into _my_ agency and he's letting that asshole torture _my_ agent."

Then the realization finally hit him and this time, when he spoke his voice was soft; dangerously soft. "You knew too. All this time, we've been beating our heads against a wall trying to find her and _you knew_."

Gibbs leaned over the desk; his face inches from Vance's. "This is not over, Leon. I am going to get her back and then you will answer to me for what you did."

"That won't be necessary, Agent Gibbs" said the Sec Nav as he rose from his chair at the table behind Gibbs. He didn't give Gibbs a chance to respond before saying "I know you're pissed right now."

Gibbs spun around to confront the man. "You're god dammed right I'm pissed." He answered without betraying his surprise at finding the Sec Nav behind him in the room.

"Listen Gibbs, just listen" he said smoothly. "We never meant for this to happen, and we're working on getting her out right now." He walked towards Gibbs as he started to explain what had happened.

"Asir was supposed to take the liaison position, not Ziva. We knew that he was working directly for Eli David and that he was going to attempt to kill an NCIS agent; you, in fact." He paused for a second to let that little bit of information sink in then continued. "We were going to catch him"

"Before or after he killed me?" Gibbs snarled.

The Secretary paused at this outburst, but continued as if Gibbs hadn't said anything. "and get him to confess that he was here on David's orders."

Gibbs knew then that Ziva was not the priority in their minds. She had never been. They had been willing to risk his life to get Eli David years ago and now they were risking hers.

"You son of a bitch" Gibbs swore softly as he advanced towards the Sec Nav, who backed away involuntarily. "You don't give a damn about who gets hurt in the process. You don't give a damn who YOU hurt in the process." He shook his head and shot a look at Vance before he continued "as long as the job gets done."

Neither man made an attempt to deny the accusation.

"Tell me." demanded Gibbs. "Tell me what the plan was. Tell me how you screwed it up so that I can fix it and bring her back."

The secretary was growing tired of Gibbs' demands and responded in a much harsher tone than he had been using.

"We didn't screw anything up, Agent Gibbs. There was always a risk; we just didn't expect them to go after Ziva."

He continued. "There was an inside group in Mossad, who were ready to take down David. They just needed a reason to get rid of him. He is too well-protected, too well-connected, to take him down in a more, direct, manner."

He paused "But he must have gotten wind of the plan somehow, because he took Asir, his most trusted agent, out of position and replaced him with Ziva."

Gibbs glared at him and said "You didn't know what to do. You had his daughter, but you knew that he didn't trust her as much as he trusted Asir."

"We decided to watch and wait. We were still watching and waiting when Ari came to kill you and Ziva proved her loyalty to you and to NCIS by killing him. The Secretary walked over to Gibbs and put his hand on his arm. "We will get her back Gibbs, but we have to be careful. We want Asir alive, so his testimony can take down David."

Gibbs shook off his hand and responded quietly, but firmly. "I want Asir _dead_ and I don't want David _taken down_. I want to kill the bastard."

"Look, Agent Gibbs, I understand how you feel, but we have the cooperation of the CIA and the White House on this. We can't let you jeopardize the mission. We know where she is and we're planning to move in three days from now."

Gibbs started to interrupt but the Secretary cut him off. "They won't kill her. They are trying to lure you and your team to her. Asir is still trying to finish the mission that he was given four years ago."

He stressed the point, in an attempt to calm Gibbs down. "They won't kill her until they have you and that's why you are not going to get involved in this."

The attempt didn't work.

Gibbs exploded. "You're right. They won't _kill_ her. They'll just _torture_ her for three more days while you sit on your ass, worrying about Asir and Eli!"

He pointed his finger directly at the Secretary. "You could have stopped this weeks ago but you decided to wait." He shifted his glance to Vance, making it clear that he held both of them responsible for what had happened to Ziva and when he walked out of the room neither one tried to stop him.

Less than an hour later, Gibbs, DiNozzo, and McGee were on a military plane to Tel Aviv. Abby had given them the GPS coordinates where Ziva was being held as well as very detailed satellite images of the camp and surrounding area. She was currently monitoring it via satellite, courtesy of a friend at NASA. She would be able to get them a rough idea of how many men were there and how well guarded the camp was.

Abby called Gibbs about halfway through the flight. As far as she could tell, the only men there were the ones they had already seen and identified on the tapes. When Gibbs relayed the information to Tony and McGee, they were relieved. "Well Gibbs, fifteen to three isn't the worst odds we've faced." Tim said.

Tony flicked his eyes towards McGee and spoke for the first time since boarding the plane "fifteen to four, McGee. You're forgetting to count Ziva."

Gibbs was touched by Tony's faith in Ziva, but he didn't respond. If Ziva could fight, she would, but he was not at all sure that she would be able.

A little while later Tim finally asked the question that had been on all of their minds since leaving D.C. "Do they know we're coming? I mean, I know they expect us, but they can't know how fast we found them… Can they?"

Tony had picked up the first video at 05:00 that morning. They were on a plane 13 hours later. There was no way anyone could have expected them to put the information together that fast.

Their confidence increased even more when they heard from Abby again. A homeless man had just been apprehended dropping off a tape at Gibbs' house.

They were still leaving clues for them to follow, obviously unaware that the team was already ahead of them.

"Have you watched it yet Abby?" Gibbs asked.

"No. The director hasn't released it to me yet. Ducky and Jimmy are going to be here with me and I'll forward it to you as soon as I can." She paused. "Um, Gibbs?"

"What Abby?"

"The Secretary of the Navy was here a few minutes ago. He was looking for you and, um, he seemed kinda pissed, Gibbs."

"Well, I do have that effect on people, don't I?" responded Gibbs with a slight smile. "Send us the video as soon as you get it. And Abbs? Don't worry about Sec Nav and _don't_ tell him where we are."

"As if I would rat on you guys! I don't care what's going on between the Sec Nav and the CIA. I want _Ziva_ back!"

"We all do. We'll get her Abbs." He reassured her and then before he hung up, he asked one last question. "Abbs? How did you know that the CIA was involved in this?"

Tony and Tim could only hear Gibbs' end of the conversation. His question left them confused.

When he hung up, Tony looked directly at Gibbs and said "CIA."

Gibbs' only answer was a short nod.

Tony responded with one more word. "Kort" and Gibbs sighed and nodded again. Then he looked up at the two best agents he had ever had a chance to work with and told them what he had learned in Vance's office.

Tony's reaction was worse than he'd expected.

As the story unfolded, he became very still and very quiet. The only evidence of the rage boiling inside of him was in his eyes.

Anthony DiNozzo had seen evil. He understood that there were evil men in the world. Asir was an evil man. Eli David was an evil man. And he knew how to deal with evil men.

But Gibbs knew that Tony, fiercely loyal Tony, would never be able to handle the betrayal of men like Vance, Kort, and the Secretary of the Navy.

These men were supposed to be the good guys. They were supposed to protect people like Ziva from the evil men in the world.

He would never forgive them for what they had done. Gibbs could see it in his eyes. After Ziva was safe, Tony wouldn't stop. He wouldn't stop until he had destroyed these men; or been destroyed by them.

And that frightened Gibbs.

* * *

><p>Ziva was sitting in a chair in the center of the room. She was gently cradling her broken left hand in front of her, but her upper arms and torso were tightly bound with rope. Her ankles were cuffed to the legs of the chair and her head was drooping. It was difficult to tell if she was conscious or not.<p>

Asir came into view carrying a syringe filled with clear fluid. She barely moved when he injected it into her arm, but she did say something to him. Abby had to play it back twice before they could catch it. Her voice was low, weak, and her speech slurred.

"No. Please…" but it was too late.

Asir turned to the camera and explained that he had just given her an injection of a powerful hallucinogen. When Abby heard the name of the drug, she immediately paused the video and started researching the effects. What she found was not encouraging. It was illegal in most developed nations, including the US, but not in Israel. In Israel, they were allowed to use the drug for interrogation purposes.

Abby didn't know it but they had also given her an injection of a drug that caused temporary blindness.

Ziva didn't know it was temporary. All she knew was that she had rapidly lost her sight following the first injection. They were steadily taking away her hopes and desire to get out of this situation alive.

At this point, she had been captive for over a month. Her hand was crushed beyond repair, and now she was blind.

When she restarted the video, Abby heard Asir tell Ziva "You are going to die here. You are not going to escape. Your friends _will_ find you, but when they do, it will be too late. All they will find is your dead body."

He paused, leaned closer to Ziva and continued. "I will be nice enough to leave them a video of how you died though. I think they would like to know."

He looked at his captive. Even now, with her face bloody and mangled, her clothes dirty and torn, her hopes of getting out of this alive almost gone; she was still fighting. He loved that about her. But he would enjoy killing her even more.

**Please please review! I really want to know what you think! **

**The next chapter will be up soon, and I must say, our boys have no idea what they're in for... **


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry it's been so long since I updated! I wrote this quite a while ago, but I didn't like the direction it was going in and wanted to rewrite it. I never could get something that I liked any better, so here is the first draft. **

Tony hit the ground first; a little too hard, but really not bad for only his second jump. A few seconds later, Gibbs made a perfect landing about 20 yards to his right. Tony was the only one of the two men to look up, scanning the skies above for McGee. In the glare of the newly risen sun, he couldn't locate him, and then he heard him land right behind him.

He heard him hit too hard.

_Way too hard. _

Two seconds after Tim hit the ground, Tony was out of his chute and running towards his friend, who lay motionless on the ground. He could see Gibbs making his way towards McGee out of the corner of his eye but he didn't make eye contact with his boss.

He dropped to his knees beside the injured man. He was unconscious but Tony was relieved to see him breathing. Tim groaned and opened his eyes just as Gibbs arrived.

"Don't try to move." Gibbs ordered. "Can you tell us where you hurt?" But Tim's eyes slipped closed again and he didn't respond.

While Gibbs was assessing his injuries, Tony cut him from his chute, which he could see was a tangled mess. _This is my fault._ He thought to himself. _If it wasn't for me, he would have landed safely at the airfield like we planned. Tim had no business jumping out of a plane. _

In fact, Tim had been terrified at the very idea of it, and when Gibbs had flatly told Tony "No", he had breathed a sigh of relief.

But Tony wouldn't take no for an answer. He had pressed and pressed; arguing that he and Gibbs were both experienced jumpers and stressing that they would get to her so much faster this way.

That was what had ultimately caused Gibbs to change his mind. He wanted to reach her as badly as Tony did. Finally, he decided that the two of them would jump but he had adamantly refused to let Tim follow them.

Tim hadn't really argued. He wanted to help Ziva, but he was not at all sure that he could actually bring himself to jump out of a _perfectly_ _good_ plane. That a person could do something so dangerous _voluntarily_ had never made sense to him.

Gibbs headed to the back of the plane and checked over the chutes for him and Tony. He chose the nearest two, which looked well packed and in good working order. Then he went up front to let the pilot know that their plans had changed.

The second that Gibbs entered the cockpit, Tony was up. He grabbed another chute and shoved it into Tim's lap while he gave rattled off some rapid fire instructions.

"Pay attention to how we strap ours on. You'll need to make it out of the plane as quick as you can so we can find each other on the ground."

There was no response from Tim, who simply stared at the alien looking bundle sitting in his lap.

Tony didn't seem to notice and continued his instructions as he glanced nervously toward the front of the plane. "Pull this cord about 30 seconds after you leave the plane. There will be two straps to pull on for steering. You're smart, you'll figure out how they work with no problem."

He was still talking as he took the chute from Tim and crammed it under his seat just as Gibbs exited the cockpit. "There's an emergency cord you can pull if anything goes wrong."

He looked up at Tim and said "You'll be fine. I promise." Then he continued, flashing his trademark smile. "Don't worry. Gibbs won't blame you. He'll know it was my idea." His smile slipped only a bit at that thought and brightened as he continued "He'll forgive me… eventually."

But he had been wrong.

Tim was not fine. Tim was dying. Tony and Gibbs watched helplessly as he struggled to breathe. There was nothing they could do for him and Tim was clearly in agony. Both of his legs were obviously broken, and the blood trickling from his mouth showed them that there were internal injuries that couldn't be seen.

He had been very wrong.

He forced himself to look at Gibbs and saw that there was one thing he had gotten right. Gibbs knew that this was his idea; his fault.

He didn't care if Gibbs would forgive him for this. _He would never forgive himself._

**_I almost published this chapter as a stand alone story, but it grew organically out of this one and I didn't want to cut it out. _****_Please let me know what you think about it as part of this story & I'll have the next chapter up very soon (I promise!). By the way, I haven't forgotten about Ziva, but you had to know a rescue mission would involve some risk for our boys..._**


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